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About this blog: I am a native of Alameda County, grew up in Pleasanton and currently live in the house I grew up in that is more than 100 years old. I spent 39 years in the daily newspaper business and wrote a column for more than 25 years in add... (More)

About this blog: I am a native of Alameda County, grew up in Pleasanton and currently live in the house I grew up in that is more than 100 years old. I spent 39 years in the daily newspaper business and wrote a column for more than 25 years in addition to writing editorials for more than 15 years. I have served as a director of many non-profits in the Valley and the broader Bay Area and currently serve as chair of Teen Esteem and on the advisory board of Shepherd?s Gate. I also served as founding chair of Heart for Africa and have travelled to Africa seven times to serve on mission trips. My wife, Betty Gail, has taught at Amador Valley High (from where we both graduated) since 1981. She and I both graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, as did both of my parents and my three siblings. Given that Cal tradition, our daughter went south to the University of Southern California and graduated with a degree in international relations. Since graduation, she has taken three mission trips and will be serving in the Philippines for nine months starting in September. (Hide)

Dublin residents face tax renewal

Uploaded: Mar 12, 2014

Dublin voters will have the opportunity to extend the parcel tax for schools in a special mail-in election this month.
County election officials will mail the Measure B ballots on March 27. They are due back by May 6.
Dublin, since the voters in Pleasanton and Dublin approved redrawing district boundaries to match city limits in the 1990s, has benefitted from the highest per-student funding in the Tri-Valley area. This year, for instance, Dublin's revenue limit is $7,374 per student compared to $6,911 in Pleasanton and $6,385 in Livermore. The $96 per year parcel tax has added about $1.3 million to the school district budget and continues to grow as the city adds more development.
Dublin's financial advantage will shrink and vanish over the next few years as the new school funding formula that Governor Jerry Brown and the Legislature approved last year. Both Pleasanton and Dublin have few students who come from poorer families. The funding for both districts will increase to $8,443 and $8,451 (Pleasanton) when the new formula is fully in effect. It's healthy revenue growth for both districts.
By contrast, Livermore will see its revenue grow 42 percent to $9,030 as the state recognizes the challenges of educating students from poorer families and non-native English speakers.
Livermore, like many other suburban districts (including Pleasanton and Dublin before the redistricting), suffered from low revenue limits that were established in the years after Proposition 13 passed in 1978. The funding adjustment finally addresses those issues as well as giving local districts much more control on how they spend the money by eliminating many state mandates.
There has been little buzz about the Dublin parcel tax and it remains low enough at less than $100 per year that it probably will pass easily. It won 72 percent last time around and again has a five-year sunset. Given the steadily improving demographics of Dublin, particularly on the east side, education is a high priority for most families so it would be quite a surprise should it fail.

Speaking of Dublin, it was a big weekend last week for Congressman Eric Swalwell and Dublin Mayor Tim Sbranti. Swalwell is running for re-election to Congress and is being challenged by termed-out state Senator Ellen Corbett.
Sbranti is running for the state Assembly seat representing much of the Tri-Valley that is currently held by Joan Buchanan who reaches her term limit this year.
Both Dublin residents won the endorsement of the state Democratic Party. For Sbranti, that means those attending the convention selected him over fellow Democrats Danville Mayor Newell Arnerich and Orinda Councilman Steve Glazer.
Swalwell added the state party to endorsements from President Obama and Senator Dianne Feinstein.

Posted by Ms. bunny,
a resident of San Ramon,
on Mar 19, 2014 at 8:35 am

I hope the strong citizens of the City of Dublin will have learned some valuable lessons from San Ramon's USD in regard to accountability of their money being spent in this area. To ENSURE that there is COMPLETE transparency with ALL expenditures. To question whatever needs to be questioned that doesn't seem right. -And further, to ENSURE monies aren't DUMPED into non-specific funds to color some truth's of where its REALLY been diverted to. This is their duty to themselves, unless they want to see their school parcel(S) taxation increase rapidly if not speciously on their property tax bills. I currently pay $258.96 which includes the parcel tax passed in 1998, another in 2009, and bonds in both 2002 and 2012.

One of the key's is BETTER planning so you don't pile on tax after tax and to give some very real "breathing room" to the increases (-remember, gas, electricity are going up again this summer; water and sewer for sure, it ALL matters)

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